EPA Region 7 Tribal Program Awards Grants to Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas for Water Quality, Response Program and General Assistance

(Kansas City, Kan., July 9, 2012) - EPA Region 7’s Office of Tribal Affairs has awarded three grants to the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas to support its water quality, tribal response and general assistance programs for environmental protection and improvement.

The Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, located near Horton, Kan., occupies approximately 30 square miles of reservation land in portions of Atchison, Brown and Jackson counties in northeast Kansas. The tribe has more than 1,600 enrolled members, approximately half of whom reside on the reservation.

A $257,106 grant to the tribe’s water quality program will support the monitoring of streams, a lagoon, ponds and groundwater wells; conduct a watershed assessment, evaluate the tribe’s monitoring strategy; prepare an assessment report; train a water quality coordinator and water quality technician; and organize workshops and outreach seminars.

A $100,000 grant will allow the tribe to begin the process of establishing a formal tribal response program to address contaminated sites on the reservation with the goal of returning them to beneficial reuse.

A $13,300 grant to the tribe’s general assistance program will address solid waste dumping, environmental outreach and education, and environmental and financial management.

EPA provides financial assistance to states and tribes to help them implement environmental programs. States and tribes may receive these funds in individual environmental program categorical grants, or choose to combine grants in a performance partnership grant.

The Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas is one of nine federally recognized tribes within EPA Region 7.